Reliable information on the demographic, social and economic condition of old people in America is almost completely lacking before the 1930's. Nevertheless, poorly-grounded assumptions about the old frequently appear in sociological and gerontological theorizing about the impact of modernization upon the roles, needs and aspirations of the old. This project--the first demographic history of old age in America --will provide solid descriptive and analytical benchmarks for social scientists and historians. The chief data source will be large nationwide random samples of households and institutions containing persons over age 55, drawn from the manuscript enumerator returns of the federal censuses of 1880 and 1900. These samples will be supplemented with New York state census samples from 1855 and 1925. Analysis will focus on the family relationships, household structure, economic and retirement status, personal characteristics and changes over time of the old with special comparison with 190 public use census samples. Controls will be made for age, race, ethnicity, occupation, marital condition, household status and community type. The resulting data set will be available for secondary re-analysis.